Improvement in elevators



LJF. MARSH.

Y 'Elevatqors".-

Patented Aug.18,1874.

by staples.

UNITED T TEs PATENT OFFICE.

- oHN r. MARSH, or LITTLETON, Nnw HAMPSHIRE.

IMPROVEMENT m ELEVATORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 154,264, dated August 18, 1874 application filed August 11, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN EMARsH, of

' Littleton, New Hampshire, have invented cerbelt of leather or rubber, and sometimes. of metal. The objection to the metallic belt is,

that it is very liable to break and become worthless. Leather and rubber are objectionable, because, with the use of either, it is impossible-J refer here particularly to grain-elavators-to make the elevator-shaft fire-proof. The belt soon becomes coated with dust and chaff, and a flame will run up the belt, under these conditions, even if the elevator-casing is of the most approved fire-proof structure. To obviatethese objectionslmaketheband of wire- 1 rope, which in itself assembles all the conditions requisite for the endless band of an elevator. It does not coat as does the leather or rubber belt, and, indeed, presents no surface upon which an appreciable coating could be deposited. It possesses more strength and wears better than a chain, and travels rapidly over its sheaves or pulleys without that danger of breaking to which the steel or iron belt is so liable. Iattach the buckets to therope One staple is preferably used to hold each bucket to the-rope. Another staple is. employed on the bucket, not as a means of attachment, but rather as a guide, to assure the bucket in its proper position. best to use a single rope, to which the buckets are attached at about their center line; and with this single rope and its sheaves or pulleys- I combine outside flat-faced wheels, preferably leather or rubber surfaced, of the same diameter as the rope sheaves or pulleys, and so located that the backs of the buckets on each side of the point of attachment to the rope will bear on the peripheries of these wheels as they pass around the rope-sheaves.

The buckets thus form a series of bars, which, in conjunction with the flat-faced wheels, act by friction to assist. the positive motion of the elevator, and prevent liability of the rope slipping on its sheaves.

The accompanying drawing represents the manner in which my invention is or may be carried into efi'ect.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective view, on an enlarged scale, of one of the elevator-buckets, and a portion of the wire-rope to which it is attached. Fig. 3 is'a view of one of the staples used to hold the bucket to the rope.

. The wire-ropeA is an endless rope, passing around the two grooved pulleys or sheaves B,

the upper one of which is the driving-pulley in this instance. The sheaves B are at any suitable distance apart. Mounted on the rope are buckets 0. Each bucket is held to the rope by a staple, a, of the construction shown in Fig. 3, the loop or bow having a cross-section of the form indicated at a. The staple straddles the rope, and its two outer ends or legs pass through the back into the interior of the bucket, and are secured in place on the inside by means of nuts b, which are screwed down onto the screw-threaded legs of the staple, and serve to draw the bucket tight-against the rope. This fasteningstaple is near the top of the bucket. On the .back and near the bottom of the bucket is a staple, a, similar in all respects to the first, save that it does not draw the rope against the bucket. This is essential, in order to give the needed play to the rope when thebucket is passing over the sheave. In case the bucket were drawn against the rope by both staples, which are quite a distance apart, the back being from eight to ten inches deep, then the backs of the buckets would require to be curved, in conformity with the sheaves, and both sheaves would require to be of the same diameter; but, under the arrangement specified, I am enabled to use a four-foot driving-sheave, and a twofoot sheave at the bottom of the elevator-leg. The lower staple is a guide to maintain the buckets against lateral or tilting movement. This system of fastening allows the bucket to be removed, replaced, and adjusted with great ease; and, further, it does not stiffen the rope, but affects its pliability as little as possible. Between the sheaves B extend vertical side guides E, between which the buckets pass. 011 each side of each sheave B is a flat-faced wheel, D, fixed on the axis of the sheave, so as to revolve with it, and faced with leather, rubber, or some friction-giving material, (1. These wheels are of the same diameter as their respective sheaves. When the buckets in succession reach one or the other sheave, their backs will also be brought in contact with, and -lie on, the peripheries d of the wheels D. The buckets thus constitute,in efi'ect, a series of friction-bars, adhering to the peripheries of the wheels D, and acting in conjunction with the same to materially assist in assuring the positive motion of the elevatorrope, and preventing liability of the rope slipping.

Having now described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Fatent, is-- 1. The combination of the endless wire-rope and series of attached buckets with the ropesheaves and the Wheels D, operating together substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with the wire-rope and bucket, of the upper attaching-staple a, and lower guide-staple c, as and for the purposes shown and described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name this 3d day of August, A. D. 1874.

Witnesses: JOHN F. MARSH.

CHAS. E. PELL, LEWIS-H. Ross. 

